Obama Hosts G8 Summit At Camp David

Title: Sign On The WindowArtist: Bob Dylan New Morning Artist: Bob Dylan Happy Birthday Bob Dylan!

Q: I had colon cancer and have had trouble buying health insurance ever since. Under Obamacare, will insurance companies still be allowed to refuse me because of my medical history? Emily Bazar works for the California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting. She is based in Sacramento, where she covers health care policy in California, with a focus on Obamacare implementation, Medi-Cal budget cuts, children’s dental care and variation in the use of medical treatments.

Why did our ancestors start walking upright? Ancient terrain may hold clue. (via The Christian Science Monitor) Copyright ImageClick to View A reconstruction of the skeleton of Australopithecus sediba, center, stands next to a modern human female, left, and a male chimpanzee. (Lee R. Berger/University of the Witwatersrand/AP) Being four-legged has its perks. As a quadruped, your center of gravity is lower,…   [Image by Ryan Somma via Flickr Creative Commons]

In the face of repeated infrastructure related disasters, Fox News host Neil Cavuto has continued to dismiss calls for an increase in infrastructure spending, claiming that spending on infrastructure is high enough. In reality, infrastructure spending has plummeted in recent years.A Bridge Collapse In Washington "Shines Light On Aging Infrastructure" The Seattle Times: "An I-5 Bridge Over The Skagit River In Mount Vernon Collapsed Thursday Evening, Sending Cars And People Into The Water." According to the Seattle Times:  A chunk of Interstate 5 collapsed into the Skagit River near Mount Vernon on Thursday evening, dumping two vehicles into the icy waters and creating a gaping hole in Washington state's major north-south artery.  [] Rescuers pulled three people with minor injuries from the water after the collapse, which authorities say began when a semitruck with an oversized load struck a steel beam at around 7 p.m. [Seattle Times, 5/23/13] USA Today: "Bridge Collapse Shines Light On Aging Infrastructure." According to USA Today on May 24:  Six years after a Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people called attention to the state of the nation's bridges, there has been minimal improvement and insufficient funding to repair and replace aging spans. The collapse Thursday of the Interstate Highway 5 in Washington state shined the spotlight once again on troubled bridges. [USA Today, 5/24/13] Neil Cavuto Has Repeatedly Dismissed Calls For More Infrastructure Spending In March 2013, Cavuto Said, "The Issue Isn't More Money Going To Infrastructure." From Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto on March 29 (emphasis added): CAVUTO: Well, if you keep talking about building it, the money will come. The president in Florida today doing just that, arguing for more spending on roads and bridges. But haven't we spent hundreds of billions of dollars on roads and bridges thus far? Between highway tolls and fees, state excise taxes, federal highway transportation taxes, the issue isn't more money going to infrastructure. The issue could be what the heck happened to all the money we have already spent and committed to infrastructure. [] If I had a dime for every time I heard politicians talk about the infrastructure, I would have a lot of dimes. We could have built a bridge to Oz, right? But -- but what happened to all the money that we already committed? [Your World via FoxNews.com, 3/29/13, accessed 5/24/13] Cavuto Claimed: "We Pour A Lot Of Money For Things Like Roads And Bridges And Highways." From a May 17 interview with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) on Fox News' Your World: CAVUTO: You know, it's a dumb question on my part but last time I checked, I mean we pour a lot of money, commit a lot of money, gasoline taxes, tolls on bridges and roads, et cetera, surtaxes -- our transportation department for things like roads and bridges and highways. So I would like to know where that money has gone before I commit more money. [Fox News, Your World,  [Business Insider, 5/24/13] Washington Post: "U.S. Infrastructure Spending Has Plummeted Since 2008." According to Brad Plummer of the Washington Post, "Not surprisingly, the collapse of a bridge along Interstate 5 in Washington state yesterday has revived the long-standing debate over whether Congress should spend more to repair the nation's aging roads and bridges." After discussing  There's still been a big drop-off in recent years, although that also came after a big build-up in the late 2000s. (Sadly, the data series doesn't extend back before 2002, so it's tough to see what this looks like historically.) [Washington Post, 5/24/13] USA Today: "Federal Highway Administration Study Shows 11% Of Nation's Bridges Are Structurally Deficient." According to USA Today on May 24: In 2012, the Federal Highway Administration said 67,000 -- 11% -- of the nation's 607,000 bridges were structurally deficient. That means the bridges are not unsafe but must be closely monitored and inspected or repaired. That percentage is little changed since 2007 when 12% of the nation's bridges were listed as structurally deficient and the I-35 bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. [USA Today, 5/24/13] USA Today: The American Society Of Civil Engineers Called For An Increase In Spending On Bridge Investment. From USA Today on May 24: [F]unding repairs and replacements continues to be a problem, especially because bridges are getting older, says Andrew Herrmann, an engineer and past president of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The average bridge in the USA is 42 years old, Herrmann says. [] The group gave the nation a C+ in its report card for maintaining bridges, saying federal, state and local governments need to increase bridge investment by $8 billion annually to meet the needs of deficient bridges. [USA Today, 5/24/13]

By Rachel Goldfarb, originally published on Next New Deal Click here to receive the Daily Digest via email. Nobel winner: Cut student loan rates (USA Today) Roosevelt Institute Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz says he backs Elizabeth Warren's plan to let students borrow at the same discount rate as banks because student debt is holding back our economy, especially compared to countries that are actually doing something about it. Roosevelt Take: The Roosevelt Institute | Campus Network's policy report "A New Deal For Students" lays out concrete and innovative policy solutions from students to solve the student debt crisis. Donors Urge Cuomo to Press for Public Financing of State Campaigns (NYT) Thomas Kaplan talks to Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Ellen Chesler and others who feel public campaign financing is necessary to combat an unusual form of peer pressure—the kind the wealthy exert on politicians. According to Chesler, it's a moral issue. In one chart: we have a demand problem, not a skills problem (Working Economics) Heidi Shierholz looks at the unemployment and underemployment rates of college graduates under 25, and concludes that when even the young and highly educated have trouble finding jobs, the problem is pretty simple: No one is hiring. America's Scandalous Underfunding of Community Colleges (Slate) Matt Yglesias uses data on school spending changes to illustrate just how bad things have gotten at community colleges. Even with tuition hikes, they haven't been able to increase spending, which means they're forced to reduce services to our neediest students. Black Unemployment Is Still Shamefully High (The Atlantic) Jordan Weissmann knows the jobs crisis isn't close to over in the black community, where unemployment is both high and long-term. But Congress sees a string of decent jobs reports and a booming stock market and convinces itself the recovery is color-blind. Food Stamp Cuts Backed By Farm Subsidy Beneficiaries (HuffPo) Arthur Delaney points out the hypocrisy of lawmakers who receive significant subsidies for their family farms but feel the government doesn't have an obligation to feed the poor through SNAP. Anti-poverty programs: too costly. Photo op on a tractor: priceless. Japan the Model (NYT) Paul Krugman makes the case for Japan's current intense political efforts to turn around its economy, noting that no one else in the developed world is attempting stimulus on this level, and while it's too early to be certain, the signs look good that it's working. New on Next New Deal Michael Kinsley Gets It Wrong On "Austerians" According to Mike Konzcal, austerians are setting eliminating the deficit as the only priority, while the rest of us see a bigger picture. Kinsley and other austerians are in a fantasy world where everyone saves, no one spends, and the economy improves without stimulus.